We’re living in an era where technology makes people’s lives both simpler and complicated.
It also shapes how business is conducted. A strong technological infrastructure has the ability to enhance production, ensure smooth operations, nurture relationships with existing and potential clients, improve products and services, and secure your overall cybersecurity.
Running and scaling a business calls for a robust identity and access management (IAM) system to overcome the onslaught of data breaches.
It’s important to update your IAM systems on a regular basis. But enhancing this system, which falls under the turf of information technology (IT) security and data management, presents challenges for individuals or groups responsible for authenticating and authorising user access in an enterprise.
You will need to tread the fine line between integrating security checks and streamlining authentication procedures to bolster employee productivity.
The current state of IAM systems
Since the inception of technology, companies continue to rely on technological advancements to gain new business opportunities.
Of course, there is a corresponding dangers with this technological evolution. Therefore your company’s IT department must exert enough effort to prevent cyber attacks on all fronts.
This should involve tightly regulated access to protect the valuable data stored within the premises of your office.
All security professionals agree that crafting a thorough IAM strategy goes beyond the deployment of access management systems. While they recognise that digital access control is an integral part of business strategy, they understand that several problems will arise before they’re able to develop an IAM solution that strengthens that system.
Here’s are 6 ways that you can manage access control
We know that cyber threats today are inevitable. However, there are several things which you can do to secure your access management systems:
1. Privilege access. Your employees need to understand the importance of safeguarding access to your company details, especially the confidential or sensitive ones. Setting privilege access will enable your organisation to control and manage what kind of information every employee can access within your database.
2. Identity context. It will be much easier for your IT department to monitor, analyse, and protect your organisation from any form of a cyberattack if a security operations centre is put in place.
Identity context will allow your team to comprehend the correlation between a user’s account and the type of access he/she has. It will also help them detect any counter threats when utilising privileged access.
A substantial identity context will aid in lowering your expenditure, curb online risks, and limits the access of employees to your data.
3. Strategic partner. If your company doesn’t have a formidable in-house security operations team, it’s best to tap into a managed security service provider (MSSP).
Commissioning a third-party IT service provider provides threat intelligence eminent in your company and provides holistic solutions to strengthen cybersecurity monitoring and management such as anti-viral services, firewall and virtual private network (VPN) management, intrusion detection, and vulnerability scanning.
4. Life-cycle processes. You need to establish identity governance and life cycle processes which govern the entire process of information access.
This means that each employee will gain access to certain data the moment they start working for your company and they get to retain that privileged access over time.
However, when that employee leaves your company or their responsibility changes within your company, privilege levels must be adjusted accordingly in order to avoid authorised access to accumulate.
5. Strong password. Password management is vital to maintaining your corporate data. With the growth of cloud-based applications, we tend to forget usernames and/or passwords used for opening accounts or applications. Not to mention that some people need to change their passwords frequently to avoid a security breach.
In some instances, the second layer of access is required to ensure that it’s not a robot that’s attempting to access that account or application. This can be solved by incorporating user identity and extending secure single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to software as a service (SaaS), cloud-based, web-based, and virtual applications.
Why control digital identities?
The total global cost of cybercrime is predicted to surpass the $2 million mark this year, which, according to Juniper Research’s The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Financial and Corporate Threats & Mitigation report, is a four-fold surge compared to the estimated cost four years ago.
IAM strategies are usually seen in the confides of various departments such as application development, information security, and regulatory compliance. Each division needs to assign different access privileges depending on business goals.
It’s time to pay attention to strengthening your IAM system.
If properly implemented, a strong IAM solution will help your business increase operational efficiency resulting in better products and services, expand your client network, reduce human error, harmonise processes, and meet compliance requirements, among so much more.
Do you know how mature your IAM program is? Why not take our online audit for a free assessment ?
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